I'm not an economist, but I know that blizzard will have control over the supply of products within their game. They can increase or decrease the drop rate of items to the point of flooding or depriving their own market of pretty much anything. They can alter the effects of current items any way they like, increasing or decreasing their perceived values through patches and updates, as well. Essentially, blizzard will have the ability to control the value of products bought and sold within their game. Is anyone concerned over the fact that this same group will also control the medium through which items are bought and sold?
Your initial reaction might include amusement at the prospect of such serious implications stemming from a COMPUTER GAME, but with the RMAH, blizzard will be participating in the taxation and oversight of real, actual money transfers. If there is a chance at corruption there, I think it should be addressed.
Has blizzard stated that they will be placing restrictions on employee participation in the RMHA market? Will there be any checks and balances to ensure this new and volatile system doesn't include some kind of digital insider trading?
Example: Blizzard (or an affiliated group) invests $X into buying a specific item in the game. They then decrease the drop rate of that item to half of what it used to be. They then sell the item back to the diablo-playing-public at a higher amount than they bought it for.
I realize this is an unlikely situation. The obvious nature of that example was meant only to demonstrate one possible way in which the RMAH could cause trouble for players. If situations like that exist, that can be explained and understood over the course of a few seconds, there must exist other, more subtle situations that might contain the same potential for corruption while possibly going unnoticed by the community.
No. There's an interview somewhere out there that they're not going to practice this and for the sake of their reputation they won't do it. This is not an MMO free to play game where you pay to win. Some people think RMAH that way just because they're not aware how it works.
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I love all loot fest kind of game! I will be playing all of them for the next few years. Loot fest games I'm looking forward to: LotR: War in the North,Torchlight 2,Borderlands 2 and of course Diablo 3.
I like how blizzard are assumed to be plotting against the community and the only reason they made Diablo III was to exploit their content and be corrupt.
Are you serious? Blizzard is going to use their RMAH to get rich by selling items? You do realize they're a multi-billion dollar company? They don't have to dog their consumers this way. There are currently 12 million active subscribers to WoW, 12 million X $15 a month = 180 million dollars a month = 2 billion 160 million dollars a year. I doubt they are going to start selling items for rich kids to buy up, maybe netting them about 10 grand a month depending.
Are you serious? Blizzard is going to use their RMAH to get rich by selling items? You do realize they're a multi-billion dollar company? They don't have to dog their consumers this way. There are currently 12 million active subscribers to WoW, 12 million X $30 a month = 360 million dollars a month = 4 billion 320 million dollars a year. I doubt they are going to start selling items for rich kids to buy up, maybe netting them about 10 grand a month depending.
I think you are getting ripped off. I never paid 30 dollars a month for WoW, I've always paid 15.
Are you serious? Blizzard is going to use their RMAH to get rich by selling items? You do realize they're a multi-billion dollar company? They don't have to dog their consumers this way. There are currently 12 million active subscribers to WoW, 12 million X $30 a month = 360 million dollars a month = 4 billion 320 million dollars a year. I doubt they are going to start selling items for rich kids to buy up, maybe netting them about 10 grand a month depending.
I think you are getting ripped off. I never paid 30 dollars a month for WoW, I've always paid 15.
Crap I was looking at the 60 day card! Time to fix it lol
What the fuck do you think they made a RMAH for? Or do some people here actually buy their oh so famous excuse?
Get a grip, they did this to make money and will make a shitload with this. It doesn't matter how much money they make, they obviously want more.
Heck, apparently if they say they're not corrupted... then they are not!
Man, I'll never look at politicians the same way either!
They saw a way to make money and thats the only reason the RMAH exists. I don't care if you're one of those that is for it (or if you're crazy enough to think you can make worthwhile money out of this), but the defense team is laughable. Blizzard fell a lot lower for quite sometimes. Didn't you notice?
I agree it could happen, but i believe it is unlikely. What could happen is if an employee knows what is about to become much more expensive, he stocks up, and (working seperate from blizzard) sells them for profit. You talk about the size of blizzards revenue, but employees wouldnt say no to 10 grand a month
What the fuck do you think they made a RMAH for? Or do some people here actually buy their oh so famous excuse?
Get a grip, they did this to make money and will make a shitload with this. It doesn't matter how much money they make, they obviously want more.
Heck, apparently if they say they're not corrupted... then they are not!
Man, I'll never look at politicians the same way either!
They saw a way to make money and thats the only reason the RMAH exists. I don't care if you're one of those that is for it (or if you're crazy enough to think you can make worthwhile money out of this), but the defense team is laughable. Blizzard fell a lot lower for quite sometimes. Didn't you notice?
Wow, look at the tin hat this guy has.
Blizzard made the RMAH to get rid of third party sites that were doing it illegally. Of course they're going to charge for the transactions to cover the cost of the servers the RMAH is hosted on. I think you should go watch this video
Are you serious? Blizzard is going to use their RMAH to get rich by selling items? You do realize they're a multi-billion dollar company? They don't have to dog their consumers this way. There are currently 12 million active subscribers to WoW, 12 million X $30 a month = 360 million dollars a month = 4 billion 320 million dollars a year. I doubt they are going to start selling items for rich kids to buy up, maybe netting them about 10 grand a month depending.
I think you are getting ripped off. I never paid 30 dollars a month for WoW, I've always paid 15.
Crap I was looking at the 60 day card! Time to fix it lol
Lol. I figured that was what happened.
Also, a good bit of that money goes to simply running the game and keeping it from crashing in a ball of flames. Then even more goes to content, so after everything is taken out, I would absolutely love to know what the net profit is rather then the gross profit.
they have way to much to lose by playing games with respect to the RMAH. They are doing it to keep the 3rd party sites in check and provide a safe way to sell and buy items. Seriously, they aren't out to get you just because you think they are.
Also there are likely only going to be a very small group of employees that will have access to the files after the game is released (making patches and fixing any bugs) Other employees will be working on the expansion.
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On Strike and supporting Fallout 4 Mod Makers
Some fallout 4 mod makers have had their mods stolen and uploaded and downloaded on Bethesda's site for the Xbox One.
What the fuck do you think they made a RMAH for? Or do some people here actually buy their oh so famous excuse?
Get a grip, they did this to make money and will make a shitload with this. It doesn't matter how much money they make, they obviously want more.
Heck, apparently if they say they're not corrupted... then they are not!
Man, I'll never look at politicians the same way either!
They saw a way to make money and thats the only reason the RMAH exists. I don't care if you're one of those that is for it (or if you're crazy enough to think you can make worthwhile money out of this), but the defense team is laughable. Blizzard fell a lot lower for quite sometimes. Didn't you notice?
I agree it could happen, but i believe it is unlikely. What could happen is if an employee knows what is about to become much more expensive, he stocks up, and (working seperate from blizzard) sells them for profit. You talk about the size of blizzards revenue, but employees wouldnt say no to 10 grand a month
I and many, many others have been doing this for years in games like WoW. You keep an eye on patch notes or expansion information and find out what to stock up on. You don't even need to farm anything normally, some times you find stacks and stacks of dirt cheap items that will have an important use after a patch. Simply buy them cheap, wait for patch, profit.
My personal take on that specific matter is wait at least a year after the game is launched (if the world has not ended by then), see if people will still be playing it and how big the economy will be for any of this to matter.
The thread and the discussion is legit, I'm just saying how I feel about this in this moment.
What you may be overlooking is the fact Blizzard could/could have done this without a RMAH in the game. If they wanted to create and sell items for money they could have been doing that for over 10 years. If you want to really get conspiratorial, maybe blizzard is the actual owners of most 3rd party websites selling items/services for d2/sc2/WoW. They devised an elaborate disinformation campaign to convince everyone it was the chinese. Clever folks.
Anyways, whatever concerns you have with blizzard and the RMAH could have already been happening for a long time. So if you don't think they've already been doing it then there's no reason to think they will start.
I have every expectation that blizzard will design and alter items, drop rates, etc... with nothing but the quality of the game in mind.
Zero worries ... Blizzard has zero interest in raising any kind of hint of impropriety with the RMAH.
If something like what the OP has suggested was going on and it leaked, it would be enormous damage to their whole brand affecting everything they sell not just diablo 3. And you could possibly look at class-action lawsuits galore, not even to mention the possibility of criminal fraud (ie artificially inflating auction prices) from all sorts of jurisdiction around the world.
Do you really think they will risk a multi-billion dollar brand and business ? they make way more money by selling games and taking a brokerage fee on the AH than trying to screw their customers.
Your initial reaction might include amusement at the prospect of such serious implications stemming from a COMPUTER GAME, but with the RMAH, blizzard will be participating in the taxation and oversight of real, actual money transfers. If there is a chance at corruption there, I think it should be addressed.
Has blizzard stated that they will be placing restrictions on employee participation in the RMHA market? Will there be any checks and balances to ensure this new and volatile system doesn't include some kind of digital insider trading?
Example: Blizzard (or an affiliated group) invests $X into buying a specific item in the game. They then decrease the drop rate of that item to half of what it used to be. They then sell the item back to the diablo-playing-public at a higher amount than they bought it for.
I realize this is an unlikely situation. The obvious nature of that example was meant only to demonstrate one possible way in which the RMAH could cause trouble for players. If situations like that exist, that can be explained and understood over the course of a few seconds, there must exist other, more subtle situations that might contain the same potential for corruption while possibly going unnoticed by the community.
Honestly, grow up.
Also, I chuckle when I see everyone rushing to defend Blizzard's honor. It makes me smile.
I think you are getting ripped off. I never paid 30 dollars a month for WoW, I've always paid 15.
Crap I was looking at the 60 day card! Time to fix it lol
Get a grip, they did this to make money and will make a shitload with this. It doesn't matter how much money they make, they obviously want more.
Heck, apparently if they say they're not corrupted... then they are not!
Man, I'll never look at politicians the same way either!
They saw a way to make money and thats the only reason the RMAH exists. I don't care if you're one of those that is for it (or if you're crazy enough to think you can make worthwhile money out of this), but the defense team is laughable. Blizzard fell a lot lower for quite sometimes. Didn't you notice?
Wow, look at the tin hat this guy has.
Blizzard made the RMAH to get rid of third party sites that were doing it illegally. Of course they're going to charge for the transactions to cover the cost of the servers the RMAH is hosted on. I think you should go watch this video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DDYjljdje-g
Lol. I figured that was what happened.
Also, a good bit of that money goes to simply running the game and keeping it from crashing in a ball of flames. Then even more goes to content, so after everything is taken out, I would absolutely love to know what the net profit is rather then the gross profit.
Yeah, I don't play WoW so I'm not hip to the cost
How dare companies make money!
*Shakes fist at the sky*
That video is the funniest thing I have ever seen in my entire life. It takes my breath away, literally.
I and many, many others have been doing this for years in games like WoW. You keep an eye on patch notes or expansion information and find out what to stock up on. You don't even need to farm anything normally, some times you find stacks and stacks of dirt cheap items that will have an important use after a patch. Simply buy them cheap, wait for patch, profit.
The thread and the discussion is legit, I'm just saying how I feel about this in this moment.
Anyways, whatever concerns you have with blizzard and the RMAH could have already been happening for a long time. So if you don't think they've already been doing it then there's no reason to think they will start.
I have every expectation that blizzard will design and alter items, drop rates, etc... with nothing but the quality of the game in mind.
If something like what the OP has suggested was going on and it leaked, it would be enormous damage to their whole brand affecting everything they sell not just diablo 3. And you could possibly look at class-action lawsuits galore, not even to mention the possibility of criminal fraud (ie artificially inflating auction prices) from all sorts of jurisdiction around the world.
Do you really think they will risk a multi-billion dollar brand and business ? they make way more money by selling games and taking a brokerage fee on the AH than trying to screw their customers.